40/20s aside, one of its main selling points is that it's so easy to pick up for the uninitiated. The senior rugby code is a lot more spectator friendly now, but the cliche used to be "Union is for the players; league is for the fans".

Aussie Rules can be a little daunting to outsiders. The lack of an offside line is the most alien concept to anyone raised on football codes with them. Other quirks seem quaint (no kick offs, bouncing the ball every 15m, handpasses, free kicks for marks, etc) but one adapts.

That's saying nothing about whether League would be easier to pick up if you've never played it. There'd be a shedload of mental adjustment/learning required in either sport (and I'm willing to admit AFL would have League covered there, though it would be closer than the regulars in CWAFL will admit) and the skill adjustment would be massive in both sports, but the sheer physicality of League shouldn't just be shrugged off. Physically the adjustment would be far far harder going to League, but a player would make the adjustment in either sport if their heart was in it (the Swans have an ex RU player don't they?). Folau's clearly wasn't.

How you value the emphasis on different disciplines in each sport probably determines which side of the fence you're going to sit on in this discussion, which is why blanket proclamations by punters who have likely never played either sport (let alone both) should be taken with a very healthy pinch of salt to put it nicely.

Fair enough I could have put it a bit nicer in my earlier post.

Originally Posted by benchmark00

lol gotta be crazy if anyone thinks it's easier to pick up AFL than NRL late in life.

Plenty of soccer fans (for e.g.) would acknowledge that AFL would be harder to pick up than soccer. They would not believe though that its the better sport.

One of AFL's strengths and at the same time weaknesses is its complexity. It is often a barrier to getting in new fans, as there is so much going on and a lot of technical rules. I think its fair to say that out of all the football codes AFL would be one of the hardest to pick up.

Plenty of soccer fans (for e.g.) would acknowledge that AFL would be harder to pick up than soccer. They would not believe though that its the better sport.

One of AFL's strengths and at the same time weaknesses is its complexity. It is often a barrier to getting in new fans, as there is so much going on and a lot of technical rules. I think its fair to say that out of all the football codes AFL would be one of the hardest to pick up.

I haven't once framed it as a "superior sport" argument (which is an argument nearly 100% subjective anyway). The original comment was in reference to which sport would be easier to pick up later in life for a professional athlete. Not in reference to picking up or understanding the game as a fan. Completely different question.

I just think comparing the challenges a player would have to deal with swapping codes (ignoring RU/RL swaps) are impossible to understand. How do you compare understanding how to read a game of AFL vs taking the impact of several car crashes in a game of RL vs learning how to keep a round ball glued to your feet while dribbling in soccer? They're all such different skillsets, and which one you place the most value on is likely to go back to that subjective question of which sport you value more in general.

No its not necessarily relevant to which sport you value more in general. I understand your point regarding "picking up the game as a fan vs. picking it up to be able to player later in life" is a different debate, I concede that. But I still don't understand why you are so staunchly defending rugby league as more difficult to pick up on than AFL as if arguing that AFL is more difficult means we are saying it is better (it is better by the way, but not for that reason #trollface). You are talking about impartiality of the people posting in this thread, so you are suggesting that because Howard thinks its harder to play AFL he thinks its better. If you think its a subjective thing that's fine, but then calling people biased is suggesting they are linking complexity and difficulty with better. Not always the case. I think some sports would be damn difficult to pick up later - ice hockey for one. Yet I don't watch it and have very little interest in it as a sport (where the **** is the puck??????????)

But I still don't understand why you are so staunchly defending rugby league as more difficult to pick up on than AFL as if arguing that AFL is more difficult means we are saying it is better (it is better by the way, but not for that reason #trollface). You are talking about impartiality of the people posting in this thread, so you are suggesting that because Howard thinks its harder to play AFL he thinks its better. If you think its a subjective thing that's fine, but then calling people biased is suggesting they are linking complexity and difficulty with better. Not always the case. I think some sports would be damn difficult to pick up later - ice hockey for one. Yet I don't watch it and have very little interest in it as a sport (where the **** is the puck??????????)

The bits in bold are all things I never suggested. (the bit in brackets is just pure fantasy ) All I'm saying is that the sports would all have different things that would require massive adjustments, and frankly it's impossible (for us at least) to evaluate which adjustments would be "more difficult" and therefore weighted more heavily.

The impartiality comment was a response to the not so veiled references to my intelligence and/or sanity.